Twenty-first century medicine uses more and more electronic devices. Standards for patient and user safety require protection of medical connectors to reduce the risk of contact with high voltage. For example, International Standards Organization (ISO) Standard 60601 1 specifies that connectors must be so protected.
As a result, shrouded connectors are employed for various applications, including but not limited to applications in the contemporary medical operational environment. Such shrouded connectors typically include an electrical conductor, e.g. a bi-polar or uni-polar pin, which is surrounded by an insulating housing referred to as a shroud. The insulating shroud essentially surrounds the electrical conductor such that the risk of direct human contact with the electrical conductor is reduced or entirely eliminated.
In the context of medical applications, health care providers often autoclave and re-use devices, including cables. Autoclaving is a steam or other gaseous sterilization process which, in the context of cables used in medical applications, creates, particularly with steam sterilization widespread in hospitals, the risk of entrapment of fluid in the connector(s) at the end(s) of the cable. This risk is particularly problematic in shrouded connectors, as the insulating shroud has internal cavities and areas in which condensed fluid from the autoclaving process may undesirably reside. This residual fluid can compromise the quality of conduction and can also degrade the cable, rendering it unserviceable.
As such, there is a need in the art for a shrouded connector which reduces or eliminates the risk of fluid entrapment as a result of autoclaving. Such a connector should be minimalistic in its design, low-cost, yet robust to allow for multiple usage and autoclaving cycles.
The invention provides such a ventilated cable connector. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.